


Terrifying Friendship

by AshWinterGray



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:21:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23956048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshWinterGray/pseuds/AshWinterGray
Summary: No one truly knew for sure what started the friendship between Jason Todd and Harleen Quinzel. Many suspected it was Lucy.
Relationships: Harleen Quinzel & Jason Todd, Lucy Quinzel & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Comments: 6
Kudos: 220





	Terrifying Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> I want to go back to my job now. Cause I'm bored.

Bruce was not happy. He glared down at the scene before him, waiting for Oracle to get back to him. The building was in pieces, people were dead, and Jason Todd was supposedly in Gotham. Bruce was quite done with second chances.

_“Got him_ ,” Oracle’s voice filtered through the comms. _“Patching you through now.”_

The sound of ringing filled Batman’s ears, and he grew more and more impatient as he waited. Then, finally…

_“Yello, this is-GAHHH!”_ the sound of muffled cursing and a thud only made Batman more agitated. _“Sorry. Sorry. This is Jay.”_

“Jason.”

There was a pause on the other end. _“Uh, hey B. What’s up?”_

“Don’t play games with me, Jason. People are dead.”

_“What? Where? Do you need back-up? I can-wait-I don’t have a mask. I-no!”_

There was a sound of another thud and Batman stopped, taking in what was just said. Was Jason seriously insisting that he had nothing to do with this? He could hear whispering on the other side, muffled by the fact the phone was still on the floor. Then, to Batman’s horror, a new voice answered.

_Heya, Batsy!”_ came the horrifyingly familiar voice. _“Jaybird is a bit occupied at the moment. Sorry for the trouble. Do you need something?”_

“Harley,” Batman growled this time. “What have you done with him?”

_“Told you,”_ came Jason’s muffled voice.

Harley gave a mock gasp. _I would never hurt Jaybird! How dare you! I just got done painting his nails, is all. And he needs to give me a second coat. Do you need something, Batsy?”_

“I swear, Quinn, if he is harmed in any way,” Batman began.

“ _Relax, Batman,”_ Harley quipped. _“I wasn’t kidding when I said I wouldn’t hurt him. He’s a good kid. We’re relaxing. You’re welcome to join.”_

Batman wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. On the one hand, several dead bodies littered a blown up warehouse. On the other, his son was currently in the presence of a mad-woman and the ex-girlfriend of his killer. He’d been so ready to blame Jason for this…but now.

_“Feel free to visit!”_ came the chirp from Harley before she hung up.

Bruce stood there, frozen, listening to the long beep that meant Harley had hung up on him. People were dead, Batman had assumed Jason, but Jason was with Harley Quinn.

“Get me their location,” he growled to the listening Barbara Gordon, who, evidently, was just as stunned as he was. “Now!”

The moment Batman had the location, he was off. A thousand different scenarios flashed through Batman’s mind. None of them were good. So the last thing Batman expected to see when he smashed through the apartment window was Jason painting Harley’s nails, just as Harley said they were doing.

“Hey, Batsy! Guess you were right, Jaybird! I’ll pay you back after this, kay?”

Jason rolled his eyes fondly, but kept his attention on Harley’s nails. Bruce, not Batman, Bruce, took a moment to look over his son. Jason had his left ankle in a cast, carefully placed on a pillow off to the side. Bruce could also see several bandages peeking out all over Jason’s body. Harley, too, had similar injuries.

“No need to worry,” Harley waved at Batman with her free hand. “Jaybird and I will be out of your hair soon. We’re just recuperatin’. Had a mean bashing a couple days ago.”

Batman knew Harley Quinn well enough to understand that she had no intention of saying anything about their attacker. Nor did she have any intention of saying anything about who had set them up in Gotham.

“We’re under surveillance so no trouble making here,” Harley breezed, flapping her hand a bit more. “No trouble making planned here.”

Jason scoffed, but there was a soft, pleasant grin on his face.

“Okay, okay,” Harley pulled her hand away from Jason to hold them up in mock surrender. “I did prank call a couple pizza places. But that was on a dare, and it wasn’t anything bad. We didn’t even get free pizza, or nothin.”

“Mom,” came a tired but frightened voice.

Batman turned to come face to face with none-other than Lucy Quinzel. Batman hadn’t even been aware she was in the city, let alone staying with her mother.

“Are you in trouble?” Lucy questioned, expression moving from the people on the floor to Batman and back. “Did something happen?”

“No, sweetpea,” Harley shook her head, offering her dry hand to Lucy. “Batman is just checking that we aren’t being trouble-makers. Did you have a nightmare?”

Lucy nodded; eyes pinching shut as she fought obvious tears. To Batman’s surprise, it was Jason who stood first, scooping the girl up in his arms and tucking her to his chest. She curled into him, body shaking with silent sobs as Jason moved back towards the bedroom Lucy had exited.

“Jay and I worked before, you know, at Blackgate with Waller,” Harley hummed, looking down at her half-done nails. “We didn’t get on then, and we didn’t get on when Jay was in Arkham either. But about a month ago, Mistah J kidnapped Lucy, killed my sister for it.”

Batman had heard about that, but by the time he had heard about the incident, he had been off world, but Harley had refused to tell the Police who had aided her in saving Lucy. Batman had suspected Pamela Isley but had no proof.

“Jaybird swooped in a saved us both,” Harley admitted. “I-I thought he might kill us, you know, but Jay didn’t. He took us to his safe house, and the Amazon wasn’t happy, but she let us stay. And I kept wondering what Lucy would do without anyone to take care of her. I couldn’t get her involved in this stuff. There was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t bully her into becoming a villain. Mandy was already comin to extract me, and Jay made me a promise to protect her. He was gone by the time Mandy’s team came, and he’d pop up at random in the middle of jobs, let me see Lucy whenever we could manage. Mandy let it fly. He’s been good for her, ya know.”

Batman didn’t know, and hadn’t known that his son was raising Lucy Quinzel. It would explain why Artemis had joined Diana, and why Bizarro was helping on the Kent farm. Both avoided him like the plague when necessary, and even the Super-Clone had gotten good at deflecting.

With one last glance toward the door, Batman left, leaving Harley to stare down at her half-finished nails.

\---------------------

“You should totally ask her out.”

“I’m not asking her out.”

“But you should.”

“No. She doesn’t see me like that. Plus, her father is standing right next to me.”

“If I tried to interfere in my daughter’s life, she never forgive me.”

“See. Ask her out.”

“No!”

Dick eyed Jason and Harley back and forth as Slade Wilson watched on with mild amusement. Amanda Waller had already given them the heads up that she was sending a team to Blüdhaven, and Jason had shown up with Lucy Quinzel two hours before the Suicide Squad had shown up. Apparently, they were under specific instructions to protect him from a rampaging Blockbuster. Rose was talking to Carol Ferris and Floyd Lawton about something Dick wasn’t paying attention too.

“You and the Red-Star-Wonder were never going to go anywhere, sweetie,” Harley stated, eyeing Jason seriously. “You need to get out more. And I don’t mean that Isabella Ardila woman. She was never your type and we both know it. Rose is definitely your type, and you already have a crush on her. So ask her out.”

“No, I’m not asking her out,” Jason continued to protest. “It is not happening. Stop pushing me.”

“If it makes you feel better, I would approve,” Slade added, which only made Jason squawk.

Before anything else could be said, Blockbuster made his move. It was a good thing Carol Ferris had been there or they all might have died without her protective shield. What followed was a battle where Dick did not get a chance to put on his costume, Chief Amy Rohrbach was left with a major headache, and Dick learned Jason had stopped killing.

“Lucy doesn’t like the guns,” Jason admitted, removing a _blue_ domino mask. “Her dad used a gun to kill her aunt, and the way I go about things, well, you know.”

Dick did know, he just never thought Jason would acknowledge it. Dick looked away to see Harley and the rest of the Squad get loaded back into the helicopter, and Harley gave an enthusiastic wave in their direction. But when Dick turned back to face his brother, Jason and Lucy were gone.

\-----------------------

There was a mission that ended up pulling both Jason and Harley to the Watchtower, Lucy in tow. Nearly everyone expected it to be a disaster between the former Rogue and former Anti-Hero. This was the exact opposite.

“Charlie’s just a jerk,” Lucy huffed, crossing her arms as she spoke avidly to her mother about her week at school. “Nobody likes him. He’s literally the definition of entitled, and his parents aren’t any better. Katie punched him in the face and his mom threatened to sue.”

“Yeah, well, schools don’t believe violence solves anything,” Jason shrugged from behind Lucy, where he was successfully French-braiding the girl’s red locks. “Which is why we use Plan B.”

Lucy gained a wicked grin. “Charlie’s a cheat and we’re exposing him to the school. And Uncle Jay-Jay is going to give a tip to the police about Charlie’s dad and the tax-evasion thing.”

“I am so proud,” Harley clapped giddily. “Don’t you dare let anyone step over you, sweetpea. Defend your friends!”

Pamela rolled her eyes as she began to weave flowers into Harely’s own braid.

“Can he do that?” Cassie whispered to Tim.

“As long as he’s not killing anyone, I don’t think B minds,” Tim admitted with a shrug. “Besides, tax evasion is the least of this guy’s crimes. He’ll be lucky if tax evasion is the only thing they nail him for.”

Tim was personally making sure that tax evasion wasn’t the only thing they nailed the guy for. No one hurt his honorary niece like that and got away with it.

\-----------------------------

They were having family dinner that night when Kate said that she and Renee would be late. Renee had gotten stuck in a case that resulted in a chase across downtown and Kate was helping with damage control as Batwoman. Which left the family still scattered around the house, waiting for the couple. And for whatever reason, Damian had ended up in a room with Lucy.

She wasn’t what he expected. His whole life, Damian had been taught that a person was supposed to become their parents, to follow in their footsteps. And yet, here was Lucy Quinzel, reading a Jane Austin book, and absently scratching Alfred the cat behind the ears.

Which was a feat in and of itself because Alfred the cat hated most people.

“Take a picture, it will last longer?”

Damian went rigid as Lucy’s blue eyes locked with his green ones, and Damian found he wasn’t sure how long he was staring. But he was a Wayne and an Al Ghul, and neither stepped down.

“I know what you think of me,” Lucy scoffed, still not dropping her own gaze. “That I’ll be just like my parents. Well, if that’s the case then I’ll be glad, because Jay-Jay is more my father than the Joker ever was, and I’m proud of him.”

Point made, Lucy looked back at her book. It took Damian a bit too long to look away, and by that point, Kate and Renee had arrived for dinner. It wasn’t until later that Damian flipped through old sketch books that he made the connection his brain had subconsciously been trying to place. He’d sketched a quick picture of Lucy reading the Jane Austin book that afternoon. A few months ago, when Bruce and Selina had been on their first engagement, he’d sketched a picture of Jason reading another Jane Austin book.

They both made the same face.

(After that realization, Damian began to observe his own family, noticing several similarities between each of Bruce’s adopted children and the man himself. They were uncanny, proven to him by his own hand with his own talent. What surprised Damian the most was how Jason and Bruce both had the same look that Jason shared with Lucy when they read a book. And it wasn’t until Damian looked through pictures Tim had taken that he realized he made the same face.)

\-----------------------------

Lucy Quinzel gets her name changed to Lucy Todd upon her mother’s blessing. In fact, it was Harley’s idea.

“She’ll be safer,” Harley stated when Lucy and Jason visited at Blackgate. “With you going back into society, it would be safer to say she was your daughter or your sister. And Mandy managed the memory wipe on Mistah J. He doesn’t remember.”

“We’ll keep visiting,” Jason promised as Harley teared up. “Whatever it takes, Harley, she’s still your daughter and I am never taking that away from you.”

“You’re a good kid, Jaybird,” Harley sniffed, bright smile on her face. “Don’t ever forget that. Don’t let anyone beat you down, okay?”

“You can always beat me back up, Harls,” Jason laughed, fond as ever, and a sound Bruce hadn’t heard in a long time. “You’ve got a knack for it.”

Harley turned her attention to where Bruce was standing. “You take care of him, Batsy, you hear. No more lashing out at each other. Schools got one thing right. Violence doesn’t solve problems.”

Bruce, without his cowl, dressed as Brucie Wayne, gaped at Harleen Quinzel.

“Oh, don’t worry, Batsy, I won’t tell no one,” Harley waved off. “I figured you out ages ago. Figured it would end the game if I told Mistah J, so I kept quiet.”

Bruce grimaced but nodded. He’d have to keep a closer eye on Harley from now on.

“I’ll take care of them.”

\-----------------------------

When Lucy was introduced into society, it was a few months after Jason returned from the dead. It was to unsure that no one thought anything odd of the situation. They introduced her as Lucy Todd, Jason’s younger sister. (There was no way they could make 10 year old Lucy the daughter of 19 year old Jason without it looking sketchy). And she took to her role as an upper class lady with ease.

At least, to the eyes of the public. In reality, Lucy hated the crowds, hated the posh businessmen and women. Hated the crowds. Hated the way she was treated. The rest of the family would watch as Jason would take Lucy away early each night of a party, not knowing what to do to help the girl.

“It feels funny,” she told Jason and Damian one night. “People have hurt me my whole life, all for my name. And now everyone wants to be my best friend. It makes me feel sick.”

Jason couldn’t blame her.

“You don’t need them when you have us,” Damian huffed. “Just remember that, Todd.”

The smile that broke out on Lucy’s face was blinding, and she was still beaming when the rest of the family got home.

No one truly knew for sure what started the friendship between Jason Todd and Harleen Quinzel. Many suspected it was Lucy. But they all agreed it certainly wasn’t a bad thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Question: Hope Corgi Blue Lantern. This is someone's OC, and I love him. Would it be a crime to put him in my fanfic, cause I would love to put him in my fanfic?


End file.
